There is a lot of buzz around at the moment that Barcelona are looking to off-load Dutch winger Ibrahim Afellay for the meagre sum of £6 million in order to free up funds for their acquisition of defensive midfielder Javi Martinez.

Not only have the club let the player know his days are numbered, they have even gone so far to offer the former PSV Eindhoven player on a plate to Inter Milan and Arsenal.

Whether Afellay will be pulling on the red and white next year remains to be seen, but if I were Arsene Wenger I would be doing all I could to make it happen for one very good reason. He just might be the signing required to make RVP change his mind and “do a Rooney”.

Van Persie is very much on the record with his displeasure at what he sees as the club’s lack of ambition. It is barely 2 weeks since the Dutchman had this to say:

“I personally have had a great season, but my goal has been to win trophies with the team and to bring the club back to its glory days. I’ve thought long and hard about it, but I have decided not to extend my contract.”

Personally with the early capture of Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud I beg to differ, but then it isn’t me that needs convincing it is Robin.

At just £6 mil Afellay would represent another canny buy for Arsenal and would be a very Wengeresque signing.

After making his first team debut at the tender age of 17 Afellay went on to have 8 impressive years with PSV picking up 4 league titles before joining Barca in January 2011.

Since arriving at the Nou Camp, Afellay has seen his playing time limited due to a nasty cruciate injury which kept him out of the game for seven months. That said, Afellay seems to have put his injury woes behind him, he featured for Holland in Euro 2012 and looked to be back up to speed.

Quick, powerful and with an eye for goal (he has scored 40 times in 251 appearances) the signing of Afellay coupled with that of new boys Giroud and Podolski would once again make Arsenal a team more than capable of challenging on all fronts.

As an added bonus, the arrival of another winger would really make the likes of Theo Walcott and Gervinho have to up their own games for fear of losing out on their places in the current pecking order.

Barring any further injury set backs at 26 the energetic winger has his best years ahead of him and if anyone knows how to get the best out of pacey, attacking players it is Wenger.

So, Fair enough he is a talented player who would bring something to the side. Why should this make RVP suddenly sit up and decide that Arsenal have some measure of ambition to match his own?

Simple – RVP really, rates his international colleague.

“He’s developed into a real class act in the past couple of years. We all knew that he’s a great player, but he has taken his game to the next level recently.”

What better way to show your captain you mean business than to buy the players he recommends?